According to a report by Reuters, the Chairman announced at the current Paris Motor-show that they would like to pounce on the Milanés brand as the thirteenth member of their concern in two years.

"We are patient and have time ... you won't hear anything though for the next two years," he said and referred to the official confutation of Fiat in connection with the possible vendition of Alfa Romeo.

Piech added that Fiat had never wanted Alfa Romeo and declared that the brand had huge potentials for improvement. Later he joked that thirteen was his lucky number - Alfa Romeo would be the thirteenth member of the VW concern.

As for Seat, he said that the Spanish brand would be to Alfa Romeo what Skoda was to VW. After the affiliation Alfa could be improved to be a "full-line" brand while technological solutions (mainly by Audi and Lamborghini) would be available, too.

After Piech's speech, chief executive officer of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, repeated that none of their brand was on sale, on the contrary, they were planning to resuscitate Alfa Romeo with a special highlight on Giulietta.

Chief executive officer of VW, Martin Winterkorn, said to Autocar that Alfa Romeo was a very emotional brand, and if Fiat concerned selling, they would have been interested. "It's a beautiful brand but there are quality issues with the engines and suspension systems for example. I'm quite sure we could make a beautiful brand out of Alfa again," he declared.

Financial Times cites an unnamed information VW-close source who said that during the depression a secret delegation had been sent to Milan to have negotiations with the local governing and the Regional Government of Lombardia about taking Alfa Romeo. Members of the delegation were mainly Italian-born managers working for VW, for instance the former chief executive officer of Alfa Romeo and Fiat, Luca de Meo.

Translated by Ferenc Pozsonyi